Talk
by Cereal-Killa
Summary: Duncan took this moment of pure realization to begin this horrid thing regular people called 'conversation'. 'Discussion'. 'Chatting'. 'Talk'. "What's on your mind, Princess?"


**-Monday April 9th, 2012**

**CEREAL-KILLA. ONESHOT. DUNCAN/COURTNEY.**

**romance/drama**

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**talk.**

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Duncan had never had a best friend. Hell, he'd hardly had any friends, more honestly they were all associates who shared his similar interests (i.e. burning things, torturing small children, harassing people, etc).

However, this didn't truly matter to Duncan. There was no need for a best friend, as far as he saw it. He didn't really have much to say. Not to say that he didn't have anything on his mind, oh trust me, Duncan's brain was absolutely swarming with useless and useful information, but it just wasn't the type of information he was inclined to share with anyone.

Considering that Duncan did not enjoy sharing in the least, this was a reasonable explanation.

So Duncan, not having any true friends, didn't actually know much about communication. Don't get me wrong; Duncan could _communicate_ with a girl, same way he could _communicate_ his way out of trouble and other messy things.

However, direct communication toward feelings, emotions and such... that wasn't exactly his forte. Of course, this had to change when he started dating Courtney.

Courtney didn't care about Duncan's lack of communication. They talked to each other a lot, although most of it was extreme uses of sarcasm and mass amounts of criticism. Duncan thought that they really had a system going.

Still, he couldn't help but... notice things.

Sometimes, Courtney would walk in the house and just be... well, be a bit _off_. No, not necessarily that noticeably off, not even really off kilter, just moreover... a bit down. Tired. Hung up and left to dry.

This was when Duncan realized that Courtney was not like other girls. She was the same as him; communication wasn't her forte either, so she wasn't going to tell him anything was wrong or that things weren't okay. Not unless he asked her.

It was a Thursday, one of the days that Courtney worked late, when she walked in the house to find Duncan sitting at the dining room table, a beer in his hand, and one sitting on the table by the chair opposite to him. Supposing it was for her, she set down her bags and gratefully grabbed the bottle, taking a firm swig and wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

A normal, happy Courtney would have used a napkin. Duncan took this moment of pure realization to begin this horrid thing regular people called 'conversation'.

'Discussion'.

'Chatting'.

'Talk'.

"What's on your mind, Princess?"

His words provoked a look of wonder on her face. A sharp shrug was sent his way. He shook his head. "No, really. What's going on, Courtney?" The use of her actual name had the desired effect, causing her to look up and really meet his eyes, attention caught and big chocolate dew drops staring his way.

He thought for a moment she wasn't going to respond, but after another down of the beer and small sigh, she spoke. "Well, as you know, Dad was in the hospital." Duncan nodded. This was old news, considering he had gotten out almost a month before. It had been apparent from the start, however, that things could not just go back to how they originally were from there. "Shawn went off to college last week, and you know what? I didn't even remember to come home for a damn day and tell him goodbye."

Duncan chewed his lip. He hoped she wasn't simply broken up over the fact that her brother had left. They hadn't been particularly close, considering how many siblings Courtney had, but he was closer to her than most of the other kids.

Courtney took another deep breath. "And I-I applied for that stupid job a goddamned month ago and they never called back. I tried to finish that project for school but I only have a week left a-and I can't fill my car up with gas because the fucking gas pump was being a total bitch this morning and the freaking mailman still hasn't given me that package from Amazon I ordered weeks ago and I've been feeling really sick and I even threw up at work this morning and the hot guy at the reception desk saw me do it and then the boss sent me home early but is docking my pay and then I realized I was embarrassed because of the hot guy and I felt like a whore because I already have a boyfriend and I spent my whole last paycheck on donuts and chai tea and I'm poor and tired all the time and I just want to go home, curl up and just sleep and I can't even do that because this beer just made me so buzzed I can't stop tapping my leg a-and-"

"PRINCESS!" Duncan yelled, grasping her shoulders in his hands. At this point, tears were rolling down her face, shoulders shaking, hiccupping and nose running, the whole nine yards and he couldn't stand by and just watch it anymore. He shook her a bit, making her look at him. "Hey, hey, hey... guess what, sunshine?" He said quietly, effortlessly.

She hiccupped one last time. "What?"

Then Duncan cupped her face and smiled, a pure, genuine smile that made the corners of his eyes crease. "It's all gonna be alright." He leaned down and kissed her cheek softly before leaning back and sitting back down in his chair.

Duncan never really had much to say. Courtney, however, was a different matter. He may not need to sort out his feelings, or at least he didn't need any outside help with it all. Courtney, however, did need help. She needed someone to just tell her something, give her some sort of reassurance, show a little bit of empathy.

Just a little.

And even though communication was not his forte, Duncan could at least say 'it's alright'.

Courtney felt her scowl slowly twitch, forming into a smile, and she sniffed once before taking another swig from the bottle. "Yeah," she hummed quietly, "Yeah, I know."

Sometimes, knowing things were alright was all you really needed to be told.

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**DEDICATION.**

**David**

**Alex**

**Ariel**

**Sarah**

**Thanks for simply letting me know you're there. And for telling me, every now and then, that everything is okay. Because honestly, all I ever really do is talk. And for the past few months, I mean these absolutely rough last few months, you guys have listening to every stupid freaking word.**

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**Readers, thanks for being patient and not forgetting about me. **

**:) Hope to write for you all again soon!**

**Love, Cereal**


End file.
